By Any Other Name

Eleven

Previously on By Any Other Name...

He pulled her close, "Are you OK?  Are we OK?"

She turned her face up and kissed him.  "I'm fine.  We're fine."  She sat back so she could look him in the eyes.  "I've made a decision."

And now the continuation...

He nodded. "I assumed."

"I love you. I want to be here with you. I want us to raise our daughter together. I agree with you, her education would be better here, and she deserves the best I can, we can give her. So, yes. I'll move here. But, I have a condition."

Looking on with controlled excitement, he asked, "What do you need?"

"I want to get my own place. Near you, or near the school or however that works."

"Vivian-" he started to plead.

"No. Ben. These are huge changes. Moving. New country. New job. New school. New relationship."

"We're not new."

"But we will be. We've not ever lived in the same country, let alone vicinity. We don't know how it will be when we are together all the time. We can't know. I think we need to take the time to figure it out."

Sitting next to her while she made her case, Ben watched carefully while trying to form his own argument that would convince her to live with him.

"You know I'm right. Give me this peace of mind. I'll rent a place, we'll see how it goes for a while and if you still want me..."

Ben said nothing, but she knew he was trying to find the argument that would change her mind.

"Please," Vivian asked, her expression pleading with him to understand.

They held each other's gaze for a long few moments before Ben smiled. "Yes. Of course. But, counter offer."

Vivian smiled, "OK."

"Can we put a time limit on how long you stay in the rental? Six months."

"A year."

"Viv..."

"OK. How about this? When I find a place, I'll take the shortest lease they offer."

"Deal," he smiled, and extended his hand for her to shake.

"Deal," she agreed and took his hand, but instead of shaking her hand, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her.

"Deal" he smiled after the kiss.

Ben called his lawyers to find out what needed to be done to get the paperwork started. The tedium of documents and forms was almost daunting enough to make Vivian quit. Even with legal help, there was no guarantee the UK would let her move there. After all what great skill did she have to offer? Her daughter, who is legally considered a citizen may or may not count in her favor, and there was a bank account full of money so she wouldn't be a drain on their resources, but it was still an uncertainty. As if that wasn't enough, decisions had to be made about her house and belongings. None of those decisions could be made without knowing if they would be allowed to move.

Contacting property management agencies, she worked out possible scenarios of someone renting her house with and without the furnishings. Movers were called about shipping her belongings overseas. Calls were made to storage units for her belongings if the possible tenants didn't want her furniture, truth be told, she wasn't sure she wanted someone using her furniture. It seems oddly invasive.

With the help of the lawyers, Ben's status, Vivian's financial independence, and Julia being Ben's biological child (the way in which they handled the paternity test made it so they didn't have to do another one), they were granted the permits and Visas. What they did learn was, it's hard looking for a place to live when you're on the other side of the world. So, Vivian caved and accepted Ben's invitation to stay at his house while she searched for a place to live and find a job. Ben went so far as to hire an estate agent for Vivian to help with the search. Vivian also used a few of her contacts to get names of people she could call on for potential job options.